


First Date

by fearless_beggar



Series: Nic's Daughter [5]
Category: The Resident (TV 2018)
Genre: F/M, Happy v day one day late, Lets read this and be happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:08:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29479710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fearless_beggar/pseuds/fearless_beggar
Summary: “Are you nervous?” He hasn’t been on a first date in six years. Hell yeah he’s nervousIn which I write fluff to cope with the angst
Relationships: Conrad Hawkins/Nicolette Nevin
Series: Nic's Daughter [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1737769
Comments: 9
Kudos: 18





	First Date

Conrad fluffs his hair for probably the dozenth time. He pulls on the cuffs of his shirt, adjusts his watch. Everything needs to be perfect.

“Almost ready?” Nic sticks her head in their bedroom.

“Which tie?” Conrad holds both in front of him so she can see.

“Blue,” Nic watches him as he puts it on, “Are you nervous?” He hasn’t been on a first date in six years. Hell yeah he’s nervous. 

“Do I look okay?” Nic helps him shrug into his sports coat, smoothing the material over his shoulders.

“Very handsome,” She straightens the tie and rests her hand on his face, stroking his cheek. 

“Yeah?” He gives her a smug grin and wraps his arms around her waist, “How handsome?” 

“So handsome, I won’t divorce you for going on a date with another woman if you agree to wear it again tomorrow,” Nic says, she tugs on the lapels of the jacket to kiss him.

“I don’t think tomorrow needs to be so formal,” Conrad murmurs against her, “In fact, you don’t need to wear anything at all.” 

“You are terrible,” Nic says, “Come on, she’s so excited. Make sure to compliment the pockets.” 

* * *

Conrad tries to remember the last time he did this, waited outside a girl’s house with a rose and a box of chocolates. Maybe his prom, but he wasn’t half as nervous as he feels now. He takes another deep breath before knocking on the door. 

“Hi Daddy!” Eddie’s all giggles hanging on the doorknob, “Look I got ‘kips in my hair!”   
“You have clips in your hair?” Conrad kneels down to admire the little bows keeping her hair back from her face, “Who did that?” 

“Mommy,” Eddie says, “And my dwess has heart pockets!”

“Wow it’s so pretty,” Fashionable  _ and _ practical, his girl is going places. Conrad holds out the rose, “This is for you, I told the lady at the shop I was going to give it to the prettiest valentine I ever saw.”   
  
“Look Mommy,” Eddie takes the flower and holds it out to Nic, smiling ten miles wide, “Daddy gotted me a fower, jus wike you!” 

“Just like me?” Nic takes the rose, “Daddy has good taste. Let’s take a picture then you guys have to go! You don’t want to be late!” 

He does all the things a good date does. Shakes hands with the parents, promises to have her back by curfew, or as they call it, bathtime. The parent doesn’t seem to take this seriously, rolling her eyes at him when he introduces himself. 

“Hello Mommy, I’m Daddy. Pleasure to meet you.” Mommy just huffs a dry laugh and kisses Eddie goodbye. He opens her car door for her (and lifts her into her carseat and buckles her in, but he’s happy to go the extra mile for this one, she’s special). He makes sure to have her favorite music ready and accompanies her Anna and Elsa with his best Christoff and Hans. He tells her how pretty she looks and how much he likes her dress with the heart pockets and how excited he is to spend time with her. Because if in the - very distant \- future she ever goes on a date and they _don’t_ tell her they like her pockets or they don’t know how lucky they are to spend time with her she’ll know she deserves better than that loser. He’s going to set a standard for how his daughter should be treated and he’s going to set it high. He’d gone over and over it in his head, he’s so eager to be a good dad. The way he loves his daughter is so different from anyone else, even Nic. Nic chooses to love him, it’s equally sided. It’s not like that with your kids; they don’t choose anything. She has no responsibility to foster any kind of a relationship, it's all on him. It’s the responsibility of his life. 

Because she’s perfect. She is so so  _ so _ perfect and he loves her more than anything in the world. She has so much of Nic; she’s sweet and considerate and headstrong and stubborn (maybe there’s a little of him there, too) But mostly, she’s just herself. She has a goofy side and when she’s unhappy you  _ will _ hear about it and she’s becoming such a little person right before his eyes. He swears, two days ago she was a slimy little red thing on Nic’s chest at the hospital. 

How do you do it? How do you raise a girl that’s strong and kind and independent but still loving and vulnerable? How does he make her feel beautiful while also teaching her that her brain is more important than her looks? He  _ has  _ to get it right. She’s the only thing that matters, and has been from the instant Nic told him she existed, before she even had a name.

“Daddy, Daddy look!” She shows him how she can spin around and around until she falls over. 

Okay, maybe he’s over thinking this. Two years old is probably easier than fifteen; all he needs to do is give her a rose and complement her pockets and she’s happy as can be. One day at a time, Conrad. That’s what Nic says when he voices his fears to her, and what he echoes back when she does the same. One day at a time. 

“This is a very important day,” Conrad tells the waitress who greets them at their favorite diner, “It’s our first Daddy-daughter date. Do you think we could sit at that booth?”

“Oh aren’t you just the sweetest,” She leads them to the spot he requested, “Are you having fun with your Dad, sweetheart?”    
  
“Yes! He gave me a fower and I get to wear a pwetty dwess!” Conrad helps Eddie into the booth, “Daddy can I get pancakes?” 

“You can get whatever you want,” Conrad tells her.

She settles on pancakes with berries and a chocolate milkshake, probably more sugar than her tiny body has had in her whole life.

“Jellybean, want to know a secret?” Conrad watches her pluck the cherry off her milkshake and pop it into her mouth, “This is where your Mommy and I sat on our very first date ever.”

“Weally?” Eddie’s eyes widen as big as dinner plates, “No way!”   
  
“This same booth,” He smiles at her, “She was sitting right where you are.” 

“Was she pwetty? Did she wear a dwess?”   
  
“She was very pretty,” Conrad dips his finger in Eddie’s whipped cream and steals a taste, “She was the prettiest girl I’d ever seen. But she wasn’t wearing a dress. She was wearing jeans, and a blue shirt. And she was so smart and funny and kind, just like you.” 

“Did you wove her?” 

“I think I did, a little bit, I definitely do now,” Even if he’d been to stupid to realize it at the time, “We went on a hike and I picked her flowers, then we came here and she ordered pancakes and cheesy grits.” 

“Mmmm, pancakes,” Eddie takes a bite of her food, the clips were a good idea on Nic’s part to keep her hair out of the syrup, “What happen next?” 

“I took her home and gave her a kiss goodnight,” Conrad says, “And I told her I had a good time and I asked her on another date and she said yes. You should always tell people when you like spending time with them. It’s nice.”  
  
“I wike ‘pending time wif you Daddy,” Eddie says. Gosh she’s so smart, his daughter is so smart; sometimes he forgets she’s only two-almost-three, “Did you wead a stowy and tuck Mommy in bed? Did you do cuddles?” 

“Something like that,” He reaches across the table and wipes her chin before the ice cream gets on her dress, “Are you having fun?”

“Yes!” Eddie says, “Can we go to the monkey baws?” She means the park across the street that they frequent on the weekends. It’s cold in February, even in Atlanta, but kids never seem to feel the cold in the same way adults do. He’s just going to have to suck it up. 

“Of course,” Conrad takes out his phone to tell Nic they’ll be delayed, “Go ahead and finish your pancakes and we can go play.” 

He pushes her on the swings and helps her get across the monkey bars and he lets her get just far enough away in tag that she shrieks every time he catches her and tickles her, kicking her legs and getting mud all over his nice pants, not that he cares. It’s only when her cheeks are rosy from the cold and the daylight starts to dim that they finally head for home, and they’re very late for bathtime and Eddie falls asleep in her carseat on the way.

Mina and Nic are seated at the kitchen island when he gets home, he puts his finger to his lips so they won’t wake her up and carries her up to bed. He lingers once he’s tucked her in. Nic usually does bedtime and she’s so sweet when she’s sleepy, he wants to soak it up while he has the chance.

“Did you guys have fun?” Nic comes up behind him and wraps her arms around his middle, standing on her toes to peer at Eddie.

“Yeah, yeah it was great,” He puts his hands over hers, “I want to do this every week, every  _ day _ for as long as she’ll let me.” 

“Hmmm,” Nic gives him a squeeze, “You’re a very good father. And, not to make this about me, but that was extremely sexy.” 

“What was?”

“Like all of it,” Nic walks around him and kisses Eddie’s forehead, clicking on the night light, “You coming to bed?”

“Yeah I’ll be right there,” Nic squeezes his arm before she leaves. Conrad pulls the blanket up, making sure Eddie’s nice and snug. 

“Daddy?” Eddie looks at him sleepily. 

“Yeah, Jellybean?” He puts his hand on her cheek, brushing her hair back.

“Did you wike ‘pending time wiff me?” She rubs her bunny’s ear against her cheek. 

“Yes, I loved it,” He smiles at her, “you’re my favorite person to spend time with.”

“You ‘posed ta ask me on anofer date,” She puts her thumb in her mouth. He laughs at her softly, smarty pants. 

“Okay, will you go on another date with me, Jellybean?” 

“Yah,” She snuggles into the pillow, “You hav’ta get me fowers.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Happy belated Valentine’s Day! Personally, I believe corporate holidays are for grade school children to give each other candy, and nothing else, but I couldn’t resist writing this.


End file.
